Monthly Archives: March 2014

The first article I read was the Nicholas Carr one, original I know. I completely agree with him. I actually had a conversation with my Dad about this topic a few weeks ago. I’ve noticed the same change in myself. I used to love to read, all throughout my schooling up until about 11th grade I read all the time, but once I started to have to read books that I wasn’t as interested in, I didn’t have time to read the ones I did. Once I started having time again, I struggled to get in to the books. The same is true with readings for school, even though I’m interested in most of the topics, I have to push myself through it because my brain is so used to reading short things online and moving on to the next one. I think that the internet is fantastic, but it has definitely affected my ability to focus for long periods of time. I hate to use this term, but due to the “rewiring” of our brains, I think we need to remember to practice staying focused and reading more often. I think its more important than ever to make an effort to read for pleasure, lest we risk losing even more of the ability to focus on long stories. Reading boring subjects for school or work or whatever is already hard enough, but it will only get harding if we don’t exercise our long term focus.

Research Log Questions

What did you find?

A part of this book that really caught my attention was a chapter that was all about the Inquisition through a political scope. He talks a lot about how the inquisition itself was not just a religious body, but also a secular one.

Why does it matter?

The fact that he talks about the Inquisition as a part of both of these worlds in important because it shows how that the Inquisition may not have been completely under the thumb of the royal power. The fact that the Inquisition would probably have been influenced by both worlds could have made them act in different ways. It probably also would have caused tensions between the Church itself and those in power because each would have wanted the Inquisition under their power.

How did you get there?

I found the book, by using the UMW Library's online catalog. I search for "Inquisition" and "Spanish Inquisition".

Did it lead you anywhere? If so, where?

This information led me to read more about the Early Modern Period in general, to find more out about the people who ruled Spain during the Inquisition.

Research Log Questions

What did you find?

This author reaffirms the conclusion from the first book I read through, that this particular inquisition was started to deal with the population of Conversos. Also this book focuses a great deal on the royal powers that controlled the Spanish Inquisition.

Why does it matter?

The fact that the royal powers were in control of the Inquisition is very important. This fact is important because the inquisition could be used to benefit the crown, instead of the church. The royal powers controlling the Inquisition has further importance because this fact makes this inquisition different fro every other inquisition before it. Before this inquisition the crown would support the church in its decisions within an inquisition. In Spain, this was not the case. The crown appointed inquisitors. This made the inquisition just like any other council that reported to he crown, such as a council that deals with finance.

How did you get there?

I used the UMW Library's online catalog to find the book. I search for "Inquisition" and "Spanish Inquisition".

Did it lead you anywhere? If so, where?

The information about the royal powers controlling this inquisition led me to look for books that talked about the inquisitions that happened before this one, to how it compares in other ways.

Research Log Questions

What did you find?

I found The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics 1830-1930 by Anne Firor Scott.

Why does it matter?

Scott's goals include describing the ideal southern womanhood, the effect of the ideal on women, the reality of southern women's lives, and the ways in which the women pursued self-determinism. She also wants to do historical justice to women. She argues that the social roles of women were particularly confined in the South and women's "efforts to free themselves were more complex than those of women elsewhere" (xi). She also asserts that regional and ethnic variations did not prevent the formation of an ideal southern womanhood. Scott relies primarily on the extensive writings of upper-class women.

How did you get there?

I found this scholarly work at Simpson Library.

Did it lead you anywhere? If so, where?

This source is an early work of southern women's studies. It was published in 1970 and it highlights the lack of scholarship in the field.

Research Log Questions

What did you find?

I found Scarlett Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Southern Women in the Civil War Era by Laura F. Edwards.

Why does it matter?

Edwards's goals are to compile scholarship written on southern women since 1985 and show how the inclusion of southern women changes our understanding of the Civil War and Reconstruction. She states that it is necessary to study the home front because women struggles as much as men to uphold southern social hierarchy. She tries to cover all races and classes of southern women, but has the greatest number of sources on elite women. Additionally, Edwards primarily focuses on the Deep South.

How did you get there?

I found this monograph in Simpson Library.

Did it lead you anywhere? If so, where?

Edwards believes that few women were belles as well as few women were ardent supporters of the Confederacy. This contradicts other scholarship in the field of southern women's studies. Her work primarily serves as an impetus for further study.

Research Log Questions

What did you find?

I found Confederate Daughters: Coming of Age during the Civil War by Victoria E. Ott.

Why does it matter?

Like Roberts, Ott also believes in the importance of using age as a lens to understand how young, elite women saw the Confederate cause. Ott also emphasizes that the war caused the young women to be angry and frustrated because they had to quickly mature. According to Ott, the young women understood the ties between slavery and their economic and social status and embraced the ideals that reinforced their status. Born during the 1840s, these young women grew up during the height of the debate over slavery and romanticized the Old South of their mothers' youths. They saw the Civil War as a threat to their way of life and their ability to meet the standards of southern, slave-holding womanhood. Ott poses the following questions ans seeks to answer them through the study of eighty-five young women's written records. What would the young women have gained through Confederate victory and what would they have lost in its defeat? How did they understand their role in the Confederacy? How did they define their roles based on rhetorical ideals and wartime reality? Did their support for the war wane? How did they participate in the creation of Confederate memory? How did they view the New South? Additionally, Ott bases her studies on the theories of William Tuttle and Rebecca Klatch. Ott believes that shared characteristics of age, gender, regional identity, socioeconomic class, and investment in honor created a generational identity. She also relies on census data and the narratives of the women. She concludes that the women promoted antebellum racial and gender ideologies after the war ended.

How did you get there?

I found this work at Simpson Library.

Did it lead you anywhere? If so, where?

Ott asserts that young Confederate women clung to southern gender standards and the system of slavery. Does this assertion hold true for Lucy Buck?

Research Log Questions

What did you find?

I found The Confederate Belle by Giselle Roberts.

Why does it matter?

Roberts stresses the failure of historians to use age as a category of analysis when studying Confederate women. The purpose of this work is to study the wartime experiences of young, elite women in the "planter ideology" driven societies of Mississippi and Louisiana. She argues that Confederate women continued to embrace antebellum ideals not only because of the privilege granted to them by race, class, and gender, but also because of standards set forth by southern honor. A southern woman upheld her honor by being pious, submissive, pure, and domestic. She reinforced her status by her physical appearances, social relationships, familial roles, and accomplishments. Roberts asserts that young Confederate women experienced the war differently than older women because they did not manage the households, were less interested in politics, employed unique coping strategies, and they understood Union occupation to be an assault against their honor and status. The young women were caught between antebellum ideals, patriotic femininity, and wartime reality.

How did you get there?

I located this monograph at Simpson Library.

Did it lead you anywhere? If so, where?

Roberts emphasizes the lack of scholarship on the importance of honor on the socialization of southern women as well as the women's embrasure of honor during the war. She asserts that historians should study roles and contributions of young Confederate women who acted to uphold their family's honor.

The first article I read was Footprints in the Digital Age by Will Richardson. The first thing I learned from the article was that no matter how much you think you are, you really aren’t in control of your web footprint. However, you can take measures to increase the control you have and to try to make sure the footprint you have is a good one. Kids are online more than ever before, so it is important that they are educated in the correct ways to safely use the internet in order to maintain the best control of their footprint and what people say about them. The second thing I learned from the article is related to this. While its nice to always have people agree with what you say, it is important to seek out different opinions, especially those which are different from yours. Doing this will force you to see the flaws in your argument and learn how to reduce them, which in turn makes your thinking even stronger. The second article I read was Personal Branding in the Age of Google by Seth Godin. Although this article was short, it had a very important message. You need to be very, very important what you put online, because once it’s there, its there for good. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but the Godin said the best thing you can do is to put good things online as often as you can. It is kind of similar to building a good credit score, everyone misses a payment here and there, but continually making payments on time, as often as you can will build up your score and can balance out the bad ones. The third article I read was Vanish: Finding Evan Ratliff. This was an extremely interesting story for me. I learned that even with all the precautions he took to keep from being found, all the information you put on the web can come back to haunt you, and in Evan’s case it did. Its a really good example of how even though you can try to hide behind things, misdirection or true, something like posting a picture of you drinking at a party can be found. This ties in to both of the other articles I read. It relates to the Godin one because although he was found, he put out all the other information to help it become much harder to find, and it relates to the Richardson article because it says that if you’re not careful, one little mistake online can hurt you.